Champions

In response to:

No doubt Piaf had prodigious abilities, but Marcel Cerdan was a middleweight and not, as Virgil Thomson reports [NYR, January 29], “heavyweight champion.”

Lester Adelsberg

New Orleans, La.

Virgil Thomson replies:

J.R. Pole:

My article was not a review of a book but an evocation of a man and his music as recalled through a series of centenary homages. At that, I did name the translator, and in my lead sentence. As a further compliment for possible use in advertising I here attest that this is the first time I have ever been able to read through those memoirs.

For still further praise of one whose qualifications have never been in dispute, Mr. Pole’s letter should suffice.